US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is following a familiar path February 13, 2019 It has been nearly a year since Donald Trump infamously tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” adding, for extra emphasis, “it’s easy!” How things change. America’s most enthusiastically protectionist modern-day President isn’t finding talks with China so simple after all. This week he rowed back on a supposedly-hard deadline that was [...]
Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro calls for gold held in Bank of England to be returned February 12, 2019 Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that the Bank of England should repatriate the Venezuelan gold it holds in its vaults. “They have sequestered billions of dollars in gold in London that are ours – that is money to buy supplies, raw materials, food, medicines. They have sequestered $1.4bn [£1.09bn] for many months, that we [...]
Metro Bank investors mull legal action over accounting error February 10, 2019 Metro Bank is facing a potential looming court action after an accounting error that was detected by the Bank of England caused its shares to plummet. The Sunday Telegraph reported that commercial litigation specialists Stewarts Law had been approached by a number of investors to look into the matter. Stewarts Law partner Clive Zeitman told the newspaper: [...]
Going for gold: How the Bank of England became a battleground of the Venezuela crisis February 10, 2019 While tens of thousands of Venezuelans continued their revolt against the regime of discredited strongman Nicolas Maduro last week, a rather different form of protest popped up in the Square Mile. A group of far-left protesters, who counted Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Chris Williamson among their ranks, accused the Bank of England of “theft” [...]
What does the year of the pig hold for stocks? History has some clues February 8, 2019 | City Talk Chinese stock markets are currently on holiday, with traders and consumers off celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Pig. But maybe equity markets across the world have something to celebrate, given the past performance of stocks during previous porcine-themed years. Statistically speaking, the Year of the Pig is a good one for stocks. [...]
Corbyn allies join protest at Bank of England demanding transfer of gold to Maduro regime February 7, 2019 Two of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's most prominent allies joined a protest outside the Bank of England today, demanding that it release over £1bn worth of gold to the regime of Venezuela’s socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro. Members of Maduro's regime have laid claim to the country's gold reserves held at the Bank. Former Mayor of [...]
Brexit latest: Juncker refuses to reopen Brexit negotiations in ‘robust’ talks with May February 7, 2019 Brexit cannot be renegotiated, insisted European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker today at a meeting with the Prime Minister described as “robust but constructive”. However, UK and EU negotiators will continue to search for a path through parliament for Theresa May’s Brexit deal as they seek to save the agreement, the leaders said today. Read more: [...]
Bank of England slashes UK growth forecasts amid Brexit uncertainties and global slowdown February 7, 2019 The Bank of England today decided to leave interest rates unchanged as expected, but slashed UK growth forecasts as Brexit uncertainties mount. The bank's monetary policy committee (MPC), which last raised rates to 0.75 per cent in August last year, unanimously voted to hold interest rates for a fourth consecutive meeting. Read more: How will the [...]
RBS shareholders approve scheme to buy shares back from government February 6, 2019 Royal Bank of Scotland shareholders have agreed to a plan that allows it to buy up to £1.5bn worth of shares from the government, hours after Labour said it would halt such a move if it came to power. At a general meeting, 98.7 per cent of investors backed the proposal designed to speed up [...]
Personal insolvencies reach seven-year high as credit squeezed and wages stagnate January 29, 2019 The number of people in England and Wales turning to insolvency to deal with debt problems has risen to a seven-year high as consumer credit tightens and wages stagnate. There were 34,108 individual insolvencies in the fourth quarter, an increase of 34.8 per cent on the third quarter. In 2018 the number of people who [...]